Date Published: February 10, 2010 Publication: The Daily Texan

Date Published: February 10, 2010 Publication: The Daily Texan

Date Published: January 19, 2010 Publication: The Daily Texan

Date Published: January 19, 2010 Publication: The Daily Texan

Date Published: December 9, 2009 Publication: The Daily Texan

Date Published: December 9, 2009 Publication: The Daily Texan

Date Published: December 2009 Publication: Our Campus

December 2009

The Laws of Politics and Race in the Age of Obama By Michael Morton

On the afternoon of Nov. 20, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African

American Studies presented the first of four lectures in its 2009-2010 Diaspora Talk Series

speaker series this year would directly engage the difficult questions of race, class, gender and nationality and use Barack Obama and the Obamas as a kind of discursive trope to track some of

assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Kareem Crayton, an associate professor of law and political science at the University

of Southern California with a specialty in redistricting and voting rights, kicked off the series -packed ISESE Gallery.

ouse and how [President

Barack Obama became President-

Crayton began his 40-minute lecture with a discussion of the various

President Obama must assume and the challenges they present him. rd because there are a lot of conflicting identities that

president but particularly this one, is managing the sometimes overlapping and conflicting identitie

Crayton assessed the role of commander in chief as the most challenging for the 44th president of the United States because of his lack of military experience. It is also the most important one because it deals directly with defending the security interests of the U.S.

form of having served in the militaryÉbut this is interesting because Barack Obama is the first

Because both President Clinton, who had no military experience, and President Bush, whose military experience was controversial, faced tough questions about their abilities to

Crayton proposed that Obama will face even more skepticism.

had significant security management experience as governors, but [Obama] never served, and his experience in the Senate

However, without any military experience, Obama beat his Republican opponent, John

capable of making difficult management decisions and keeping the military experts supportive of

situations including his executive order to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base by the end of the year, the planned trial of alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the pirate hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama and U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

make good on his promise to take national security seriously, but also treat it a little bit

ama is taking a more nuanced approach than Bush, emphasizing the importance of

mo has yet

additional troops by the summer of 2010, is the biggest national security challenge facing Obama.

the free world.

accomplished in an enduring fashion without Congress adopting it in the form of statutes, Crayton said. The president needs to have partners in Congress in order to accomplish what he

administration create a centralized White House management strategy of appealing to the different interests that occupy both the House and the Senate.

Democrats in both the House and the Senate obscures the fact that some of those Democrats

ther or not you should do what the president wants, you see on the one

the road to popularity and reelection is to do exactly what the president wants you Crayton

image and the subject of race. and Cambridge,

Mass. police Sgt. James Crowley were among the subjects discussed to illustrate that Obama has not only changed the image of the presidency but also the image of black politicians.

President Obama has in many ways transformed the conventional understanding of how the White House is managed, Crayton said. He exclusively set forth an agenda that was intended to break the mold of what it is to be president and how politicians who become president behave.

om in understanding how black politicians make their

May Not Get There With Me: Barack Obama and

Kristen Clarke, Crayton further discusses what made Obama different from past black politicians and how the former Illinois senator was able to win the presidential election in 2008.

and their task is expandin

arted with a solid base of white liberal voters, Obama campaigned for black

votes in much the same way that many white candidates do: utilizing the credibility of surrogates trategy allowed

Obama É to transcend race while also legitimately claiming a part of the black political

ascension within the black political establishment: thpastor], former Illinois State Senator Emil Jones, Jr., and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

his professional record; in different ways, they [Wright, Jones, and Jackson] supplied their own

and black communities [and helped] Obama successfully marshal the language, the skills, and

the president still has some work to do in order to help ease racial issues in America.

fundamentally shifted the way in which a lot of people think about race

and I think in many ways the traditional perceptions of race affect the way in which he manages

Crayton said Obama has introduced discourse that allows the public to be more open about race in America and hopes the president can add to what he discussed in his speech on race

office may certainly be part of the formula for black political power, but it cannot substitute for the enactment of substantive

ident will just be following up on his promise to

make America make as good as its promise with respect to being open to all people no matter

ll feature lectures from Professor Richard Iton from Northwestern University at 3 p.m. on Feb. 19, 2010, Professors Eddie Glaude Jr. and William S. Tod from Princeton University on April 9 at 3 p.m. and Professor D. Soyini Madison from Northwestern University at noon on April 16. All lectures will take place at the ISESE Gallery/John L. Warfield Center located in Jester A232A.

campus in conversation, not just in the talk itself but afterwards outside, in the corridors and in